With a mascot many Native Americans find offensive, Calaveras High School is being forced to change the mascot it has identified with for decades.

In response, the community voted to change the school’s mascot to nothing.

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The school will simply be known as Calaveras High – with no mascot.

“We’re no longer considered Redskins, we know that, we’re still going to be Calaveras High School,” Principal Michael Merrill said. “We’re going to be loud and proud.”

In 2015, Merrill received word that a new law, AB 30, banned the mascot and that the school had a little more than a year to change the name.

“I don’t like being told what to do, I’m one of those. However, I will follow the law,” Merrill said. “I feel that my job as principal of the high school is to (be a) role model that whether I like a law or don’t like a law, we have to follow that.”

The school held an online poll asking community members to choose between four options: the Reds, Redhawks, Skulls or simply Calaveras High School.

The no mascot option was the overwhelming favorite. One of the biggest reasons behind the vote is that the school will get to keep its logo depicting a Native American chief wearing a headdress.

“At least we get to keep our logo, we may have lost our mascot’s name, but we get to keep the mascot’s face,” said parent Jamie Castillo, whose three kids have gone through the district.

For students, keeping the logo helps them finish off their high school careers with their identity intact.

“I think it’s more the feeling and the image,” said junior Noah Pruss. “Having it on there for all our sports and everything else, it’s more than just the word, it’s like the Redskin pride.”

The school will now begin removing all references to its former mascot.

AB 30 gives schools until January 1, 2017 to change, but Calaveras leaders hope to have the school updated by the start of next school year.

Four schools in California, including Calaveras, are being asked to change their mascot’s name as a result of the law.